Hileni Mwandingi
GOBABIS – The Ministry of Health and Social Services together with other stakeholders in Gobabis have been working around the clock to come up with the regional response plan that will mitigate effects of a Hepatitis-E outbreak in town.
Since the first case was reported in December – of a pregnant woman who has since miscarried – six other cases have recently been confirmed out of the suspected 25 and the figure keeps rising steadily.
Most of the reported cases are coming from informal settlements with poor sanitation, especially Kanaan C whose residents have no access to clean water and toilets, which is why the regional directorate of health has been meeting with officials from the town council, regional council and office of the governor to see how fast they could provide these key services to the said settlement.
According to the Chief Medical Officer for Omaheke Region, Dr Leonard Kabongo, the emergency regional management meetings held Tuesday and Wednesday yielded favourable fruits towards the mitigation of Hepatitis E in the affected areas.
Kabongo said they planned to install three 10 000L clean water tanks and ten portable toilets yesterday afternoon in Kanaan C, where most of the cases originated from.
“We are probably going to purchase and install more, but we will see how the budget will allow,” he said.
Kabongo has also revealed that his directorate has sent health extension workers to the affected settlements, and especially to the affected households, to conduct informative meetings.
They will also start with the distribution of water purification tablets to the affected communities.
In addition, there will be a clean-up campaign on the 9th February in the said areas and Kabongo is calling on stakeholders to come on board and assist with necessary tools and equipment as well as trucks to add to the two availed by town council.
Hepatitis E, a liver disease which is mostly associated with poor sanitation, was last year reported in Windhoek and Omusati Region respectively.